September 2016…

This month the work to improve my CW starts in earnest. I started my Level 2 CW Ops Academy training and it’s amazing how quickly you can progress with daily practice and a little guidance. The guidance is excellent and my 'class' are a great bunch. It's amazing how we all have similar experiences and challenges with CW! By the end of the month I have moved from 14 - 16wpm to 18-19 and am now focused on breaking the 20wpm barrier.

I decided to treat myself to a Palm Radio Code Cube…it means I can take my key to work to practice sending at higher speed and also helps me to change speed more easily on the fly. I have quite a few transceivers that require ‘menu surfing’ to change speed or ever use the paddle to increase/decrease the speed and while this is fine between QSOs I find it a bit of a ‘faff’ when someone answers my call and I have to change speed on the fly. Palm Paddles really are a great portable key option and the Code Cube is a great addition.

September is also Hamfest month and it was great to catch up with some of the Twitter Hams who keep me smiling throughout the year including Richard from SOTABeams, Nigel from M0CVO Antennas, Dennis from Kanga, Alistair (M0TEF), Colin (M1BUU), Abdel (M0NPT), Graham (G8NWC), Steve (M1ACN) & Jonathan (M0JSX).